


Your Ex-Lover is Dead

by robbobobobob



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Adults, Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Clubbing, Exes, Exes to Lovers, F/F, Jealousy, M/M, Mild Language, Pining, background Dorogrid, background Mercienette, fake/pretend Dorovain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:41:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27437509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robbobobobob/pseuds/robbobobobob
Summary: He knew Sylvain.“We’ve met,” Sylvain flashed that megawatt smile that always made Felix’s knees shaky. And then, softer, “Hey, Felix.”How long has it been since he’s heard Sylvain say his name? One, two, ten years? More?---When Felix agreed to go to the club with Annette, he didn’t expect to meet one of his ghosts there.
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 6
Kudos: 59





	1. The World Spins Madly On

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" by Stars.
> 
> Rated M for the club and alcohol setting, but everyone here is around their late twenties/early thirties. So adults doing adult things.

> _Today,_
> 
> _9:03 PM_

“Felix, this is Sylvain.”

Felix stared at the man Annette was gesturing to.

He knew Sylvain. He knew those shoulders who carried far too much of the problems of the world, droopy and slouched. He could map out every single freckle that decorated the man’s body. He was all too familiar with how that those hands, large as they were, could be so gentle carding through Felix’s hair, wrapped around his back, or holding him.

He _knew_ Sylvain.

When Felix agreed to go to the club with Annette, he didn’t expect to meet one of his ghosts there.

“We’ve met,” Sylvain flashed that megawatt smile that always made Felix’s knees shaky. And then, softer, “Hey, Felix.”

How long has it been since he’s heard Sylvain say his name? One, two, ten years? _More?_

“Sylvain,” Felix nodded to the man. Goddess, it sounded foreign on his tongue. When he was a toddler, barely old enough to speak, he could still say Sylvain’s name as naturally as if he was breathing. Now, his lips could barely form the sound without sounding unsure, hesitant.

_Pathetic_.

Thankfully, neither of the redheads seemed to notice.

“Oh, that’s great!” Annette said, clapping softly and smiling widely.

“Shall we go in?” Sylvain said, gesturing to the entrance. Annette nudged Felix on the ribs.

“Yeah, sure,” Felix suppressed a sigh and followed Annette and Sylvain into the club.

* * *

> _10:28 PM_

Felix thought he knew Sylvain, but now he supposed this wasn’t his Sylvain anymore.

Those broad shoulders, instead of being weighed down with weariness, were squared straight and confident, made lighter and without burden. Sylvain moved with a lot more ease, no longer looking like he might crack with just a slight misstep.

The freckles Felix loved to trace were no longer the most noticeable thing on the redhead’s face. Instead, it was the neatly trimmed beard that drew Felix’s eyes, making the man look more mature and put together than Felix could have ever imagined.

And his hands which could be both soft and kind, and playful and teasing, were no longer holding Felix. Instead, they were wrapped around the waist of a tall, curvy brunette with the singsong voice whose name he already forgot. 

Felix reminded himself Sylvain wasn’t _his_ anymore. In fact, it’s been more than a decade since Sylvain was his.

He stared at the shot Annette placed in his hands before she wandered off to the dance floor, and then threw his head back to down it.

* * *

> _10:52 PM_

“Oh Goddess, _Felix?_ ” A voice shouted over the club’s terrible EDM mix.

Felix’s eyes widened. “Ingrid?”

Suddenly, Felix was wrapped in a hug. Usually, he didn’t care for physical touch, but the combined experience of being in a crowded club and seeing his ex-boyfriend was a little overwhelming. Felix welcomed the warmth.

They soon parted and walked over to the corner near the bathrooms. The music wasn’t as loud there, so they would at least be able to make out more than a few words at a time.

“I didn’t know you clubbed.”

“I don’t,” Felix sighed. “Annie invited me to her girlfriend’s birthday party here.”

Ingrid brightened. “Oh! So you know Mercie, too?”

“Yeah, she usually picks up Annette after our shift and sometimes we have dinner together.”

“That’s nice,” Ingrid smiled. “It’s nice to hear you have a close friend at work.”

She tried to be subtle, but Felix understood what was underneath that statement. Growing up, he really only had three friends. But then Glenn died, and things changed. If he were Ingrid, he’d be surprised to hear that he managed to make new friends, too.

“What about you, do you usually party… hard?” Felix gestured awkwardly at the crowd.

“Not really, but I’m friends with the birthday girl. I’m not usually good with… this,” Ingrid did an awkward gesture of her own. “For backup, I even brought my… uh, Dorothea… and, well…”

Felix followed his friend’s hard gaze straight to Sylvain and the brunette. They were still all over each other, dancing too closely to leave room for the Goddess’ Spirit their teachers used to preach about in high school.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Are you… okay? Seeing him, I mean?”

Felix started to itch for another drink, but they were too far from the bar. “I mean, I was surprised. Who would’ve thought we’d run into each other?”

“Yeah, same with me, too,” Ingrid chuckled. “We spoke a bit before I found you. He… seems to be doing well. Better.”

Felix stared maybe a little bit too long and hard at Sylvain. Honestly, he was happy for Sylvain. The last time they talked, he was… kind of a mess. Felix was too.

They were teenagers carrying too much baggage than they should have been at that age,and they were too young to know that they could just… put down the bags. At that point, they were too dysfunctional to even function as individuals. Being together and having to take care of another person only irritated their open wounds.

So Felix should be glad that Sylvain seemed to be doing better. He should reply to Ingrid that he was happy for him. That he was glad things worked out. But every time he looked at Sylvain, he saw how the redhead laughed and smiled only for Dorothea and could only think about how he used to do that for Felix. He couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes.

“Clearly.”

“Felix…”

Felix cleared his throat. “So, _your_ Dorothea, huh?”

Ingrid flushed. “I mean, I guess we’re really close and stuff…”

“Are you jealous?” Felix asked.

“Are _you?_ ” Ingrid shot back.

They both stayed silent.

“We should—we should get some shots.”

“Oh, Goddess, _yes_.”

* * *

> _12:03 AM_

“Ugh,” Felix made a face as he slammed his shot glass on the bar.

When Ingrid challenged him to a drink-off, Felix thought he would be fine. He had stopped talking to his childhood friends long before he started drinking, and therefore had no idea how much they drank, sure. But there was no way the girl who used to be obsessed with My Little Pony would be a hard drinker, right?

Felix started to regret accepting her challenge after the eighth shot. Was it eighth? Or fourteenth?

Ingrid downed her newest shot. Shit, Felix was behind by one.

“Give me another,” he scowled at the bartender, a young guy with green eyes and pretty freckles all over his face. 

Wait, pretty? 

“Sir, I think you’ve had enough for today,” the bartender replied, chuckling.

“No! Ingrid, tell him!” Felix turned to the instigator of this mess only to see her turn around, about to stumble away.

“—ma tell her,” he heard her mumble.

“What?”

“Im’ma tell her!”

“Who?”

“Doro—Doro—”

“Doro-doro?”

Ingrid threw her hands up in exasperation and stalked off. Felix knew he should stop her. That was probably the right thing to do. But she was so far away, and the floor was too wobbly, and Felix was suddenly transfixed with the bartender’s pretty freckles.

“Here, sir,” The bartender slid a glass of water towards Felix. In that moment, a flash of light illuminated the bartender, which allowed Felix to see more precious freckles.

“P-pretty,” he mumbled before blacking out, a mess of freckles the last thing on his mind.

* * *

> _2:14 AM_

Felix opened his eyes and again, the only thing he saw were freckles.

Only, instead of green eyes, he was looking up a warm, chocolate eyes and a mass of red hair.

Felix shot up straight on the coach he was lying on. At least his head wasn’t on Sylvain’s lap.

“Woah Felix, take it easy, you might give yourself a headache!” Annette exclaimed. She was on a folding chair across from him, her head resting on Mercedes’ shoulder.

“Where are we?” Felix asked frantically.

“It’s the employee lounge area. I asked if we could rest here after my guests went home since we’re all feeling tired,” Mercedes replied. Somehow, just the sound of her gentle voice helped soothe the prickly feeling all around Felix.

“How’d you swing that?” He mumbled.

“I used to work here part-time,” Mercedes’ said, too cheerful for this time of night. Or, day? “Also, I know the owner.”

In a voice so soft only Felix could hear, Sylvain mumbled, “You know him, too.”

Before Felix could respond, the pounding in his head demanded he prioritise that over Sylvain’s weird words.

“Ugh, I should go home,” Felix stood, but he was still unstable and wobbled on the way up. His short nap helped him sober up enough so that his mind was clear, but his body was still not cooperating with him.

“Hey, steady now,” Sylvain put a hand on Felix’s elbow to stabilise him. But just as quickly as it was offered, the hand was pulled away.

_No_. Felix was not allowed to think that that felt nice.

“Let me drive you home,” Sylvain said.

Felix felt his brain short-circuit. The alcohol, the touch, and now _this_ was all too much.

“No! You’re going to get us killed!”

“Hey, calm down,” Sylvain held his hands up in defence. “I didn’t drink.”

“Bullshit.”

“It’s true, Felix,” Mercedes interjected. “He volunteered to be the caretaker tonight. He does it all the time for our work parties, and he’s never gone back on his promise.”

“I don’t need alcohol to dance, anyway,” Sylvain winked, offering Felix a small smile.

Felix stared, unable to control the shock on his face, trying to piece together this new information.

Sylvain had always been irresponsible. Missed deadlines, missed dates. Broken promises, broken commitments. He was unable to be responsible or anything that he did, or what was expected of him. He couldn’t handle it.

He had said, there were too many things going to shit in his life. His family’s unreasonable expectations. His brother’s constant hatred. His natural talent causing too much pressure and overall being all too much for him to handle.

He could never take care of himself, much less for someone else.

Not even when Felix was still devastated over Glenn’s death, lashing out at his father and his friends, pushing away anyone that was ever close to him. Not even when he just wanted someone to stand by him and not give up on him. Not even when all he needed was to be told that everything was going to be okay. 

That’s when Sylvain decided, on his own, that Felix should leave him because he deserved better than Sylvain.

Felix hated that side of Sylvain that was flaky, immature, and thoughtless. But what he hated more was that underneath that, he knew that Sylvain was also a kind, bright, and caring person. It was just hidden underneath so much stress and self-loathing.

The person Felix was looking at right now seemed shiny, scrubbed clean of all grime and dirt until all that was left was a smile and the desire to tend to others.

“I promise I’ll take care of you, Felix.”

Felix nodded. “Okay.”

* * *

> _2:36 AM_

“Where do you live?” Sylvain asked as Felix climbed into the passenger seat of his car.

“You know where I live,” Felix mumbled as he floundered with grabbing the seatbelt.

Sylvain stretched over and gently grabbed the seatbelt head from Felix’s hands. Felix flinched at the contact and held his breath. He was _not_ going to let himself think that Sylvain’s hand was so large, and warm, and that it felt so, _so_ nice to feel him again.

“Lived,” Sylvain corrected. “The only address of yours I know is the house you lived in when we were kids. Sorry but I’m too tired to go on a three-hour road trip to the Fraldarius family home.”

Sylvain opened up a navigation app on his phone and passed it to Felix. “I assume you have a flat here in Fhirdiad?”

“Oh. Yeah,” Felix grunted in approval as he tried, and failed, to input his address. Without looking up, he said in a loud whisper, “You still remember that place…”

“Of course,” Sylvain leaned back in his seat and laughed softly. “Your house had the best snacks.”

Sylvain used to know everything about Felix. Now, he had to ask just to know where Felix lived. After four attempts, Felix finally managed to reduce his typos enough for the app to understand where to go.

Sylvain took back his phone and started his car.

* * *

> _2:55 AM_

The drive back to Felix’s flat was quiet.

Felix leaned slightly out the window. Early mornings in Fhirdiad were always cool, so Sylvain kept the air-conditioning off and the windows down. Felix appreciated it. His hair whipped around his face as the wind blew past him on the ride, but he was happy for the fresh air. He felt cleansed, as if some cold air could wash away the sticky stench of alcohol, and complicated feelings, and reuniting with someone he used to love….

But Felix couldn’t focus on the feeling of the wind. He kept turning to his side, unable to stop himself from staring at Sylvain. 

Sylvain didn’t say anything. On the drive, he lost some of the energy he had back at the club, fully concentrating on the road in front of him. His posture was relaxed, but there was something in his eyes. He looked… sad.

Felix looked away quickly.

He was starting to feel sad, too.

* * *

> _3:02 AM_

“This is it,” Felix said, unbuckling his seatbelt. The fresh air had done well to sober him up some more, but he couldn’t wait to get out of the car and get to sleep.

“Thank you… Sylvain,” Felix said. It was getting easier to say his name. 

“It was nothing, Fe,” Sylvain replied, the corner of his lips quirking up at the old nickname.

Felix rolled his eyes but gave Sylvain a smile. He bumped the redhead’s shoulder lightly with his fist. “Take care, okay?”

He moved to step out of the car when Sylvain quickly grabbed onto Felix’s wrist.

Felix whipped his head back, warmth flooding his cheeks. But for the second time, as fast as it happened, it was dropped.

Sylvain cleared his throat. “You too.”

Felix stepped out of the car and watched Sylvain drive away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stop here if you want your Sylvix angst WITHOUT a happy ending!
> 
> Other songs that inspired this:  
> \- The World Spins Madly On by The Weepies  
> \- The 1 by Taylor Swift
> 
> Thank you for reading, I appreciate it so much!
> 
> Also, I really wanted to put all of the Blue Lions, but I could only do unnamed passing mentions of bartender Ashe, club owner Dimitri, and pastry chef Dedue!


	2. The One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “But you don’t like sweets.”
> 
> “And you don’t like coffee.”
> 
> If you want your Sylvix angst WITH a happy ending.

> _The next day,_
> 
> _6:28 AM_

Felix felt like _shit_. 

He wasn’t supposed to get that drunk. He only went to the club because Annette asked and he adored her and Mercedes more than he can admit out loud.

He wasn’t supposed to see his childhood friend and get absolutely trashed with her as she pined for her best friend.

He wasn’t supposed to see his ex-boyfriend flirt with the kind of person he could never be (tall, curvy, singsong-y). 

Well, he wasn’t supposed to see his ex-boyfriend _at all_.

And now here he was, only three hours of sleep in and already awake. This always happened when he drank, his body naturally waking as soon as the sun went up. Also, he was _starving_ and way too hungry to go back to sleep. Felix resentfully trudged to the Duscur-style cafe near his flat to get himself some treats.

* * *

> _6:56 AM_

On the way back, his eyes widened as he spotted a familiar car and a messy mop of red hair sticking out the window. He ran over to the paid parking space, incredulous.

“Sylvain?!”

The redhead looked up in surprise before his face shifted to embarrassment. “Uh, hey Felix, good morning.”

“Did you just spit out your drink?”

“I’m sorry! It was too hot and I drank too quickly!”

Felix tutted and eyed the redhead, leaning down slightly to look into Sylvain’s car. “What are you even doing here?”

Sylvain flushed red. “I, uh, got too sleepy to drive home. So I thought I’d take a short nap first, and before I knew it…”

“It’s morning,” Felix nodded. He noticed two coffee cups inside Sylvain’s car and pointed at them. “Are you meeting someone? Your girlfriend?”

He couldn’t stop himself from jabbing at that sore spot, but at least he managed to reign in the bitterness he was feeling from appearing in his tone of voice. He was thankful he was getting _some_ self-control back.

“Girlfriend? Who?” Sylvain looked at Felix in confusion, before realisation dawned on him. “Do you mean Dorothea?”

Felix nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“Oh, no, no, _no._ I was just helping her make Ingrid jealous. Dorothea’s done everything to convey her feelings but our dear friend didn’t get it until there was a risk that someone would’ve stolen Dorothea away from her,” Sylvain said, chuckling.

“Well, that’s good. I mean, I’m happy for them.”

“Yeah…. Hey, Felix? Did you… buy sweets?”

“Hm, this?” Felix held up the bag he was carrying. He didn’t realise the smell of syrup and honey was wafting out of the bag. “Uh, yeah, I guess.”

“But you don’t like sweets.”

“And you don’t like coffee.”

Sylvain shrugged. “Man, things have changed, huh? Guess we’re both different now.”

Felix nodded. “Yeah.”

The pair stayed silent, but it wasn’t awkward. It was just… comfortable.

Felix straightened up.

“I should go,” he said.

“Yeah.” 

Felix turned to leave then started walking.

Clipped words. Felix walking away. Sylvain watching him go.

It was too familiar. This scene had already played out once before, on a cloudy night 12 years ago, and lead to more than a decade of no communication or contact.

Felix knew this scene. And so did Sylvain.

But they weren’t those teenagers anymore. They weren’t those kids who could barely understand themselves and prop themselves up. Those kids who had no time, energy, or love left for someone else.

Not anymore.

Those kids are gone, and all that’s left are:

Felix, stopping in his tracks, turning to face Sylvain.

Sylvain, rushing out of his car to tap Felix on the shoulder.

“Would you like to have breakfast together?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Other songs that inspired this:  
> \- The World Spins Madly On by The Weepies  
> \- The 1 by Taylor Swift
> 
> Thank you for reading, I appreciate it so much!
> 
> Also, I really wanted to put all of the Blue Lions, but I could only do unnamed passing mentions of bartender Ashe, club owner Dimitri, and pastry chef Dedue!


End file.
